Shifting leadership thinking from single to multi
In 1983, Harvard Professor Howard Gardner, in a book called Frames of Mind proposed a Theory of Multiple Intelligences rather than a single, general one.
I am suggesting we extend his theory by having a Theory of Multiple Ways of Thinking.
Policy Makers, business and political leaders in particular have been taught to think in one way.
It’s linear, critical and convergent.
The emphasis is on analysis, evaluating, judging and being correct.
And that this one way of thinking is not only the best way but should be used at all times.
Let’s call this Single Thinking.
Now this way of thinking might have been valid when the environment was stable, slow, incremental changes was the norm and there were clear industries and competitors etc.
But the world is different.
It’s more volatile, with accelerating change, chaotic, disruptive, with startups and exponential technologies ….
So we need to shift from mono or single to multi ways of thinking.
Consider these different ways of thinking for example:
– Creative
– Lateral
– Divergent
– Systems
– Speed
– Imagination
– Intuition
– Design
– Visual …
The key point is that we have many ways of thinking that are all equally valid, each has strengths and weaknesses and could be used more effectively for some situations rather than others.
All we have to do is to learn to switch between these different ways of thinking – on demand.
I call this Switch Thinking.
This will be the focus of another post – soon!